This series consists of files in the Safety, Health and Welfare (SHW) series of the Ministry of Labour and earlier files of the Home Office, some of them re-registered and continued in the SHW series. These Home Office files are mainly pre-1940 files from the Home Office six figure series (most of which are in HO 45 and HO 144) but also some later files from the XPC symbol series (most of which are in HO 371)

The SHW series deals with the administration of factory inspection and safety, health and welfare in factories, and is concerned with the interpretation and enforcement of the several Factories Acts and other regulations, rules and orders. Some files deal with specific accidents, inquiries, or the assessment of technological innovation. Among the subjects covered are the employment in factories of women and young persons and special precautions for particular industries or types of machinery (functions which were transferred to the Ministry of Labour from the Home Office in 1940 on a temporary basis with the transfer made permanent in 1946). The series also includes papers of the Home Office Industrial Museum Committee, the minutes, papers and reports of the Factory Welfare Advisory Board, material on various international labour conferences and High Court decisions on some cases prosecuted under factory legislation. Contains some files originally in HO 45.